


The Adventures of two Bedheads: The Zookeeper

by bansheehime



Series: The Adventures of two Bedheads [1]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: F/M, Romance, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-06
Updated: 2019-01-10
Packaged: 2019-06-22 18:34:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 17,936
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15588144
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bansheehime/pseuds/bansheehime
Summary: Chiharu was shy, self-conscious and focused on herself at all times. Tetsurō was outgoing, plotting-prone and focused on his team at all times. With a single misunderstanding they realized that they fit perfectly in a strange combination of yelling and affection. It was a 'notice me kōhai' kind of situation. Kuroo/OC non-betaed





	1. The hunt on second-year girls

**Well, here we go.**

* * *

**Chapter 1: The hunt on second-year girls**

Kuroo Tetsurō was not a morning person. This didn't mean that he hated mornings. He was alright with getting up early from time to time. And, he was completely okay with those being 'catapult wakeups'. However, he really  _loved_  sleeping in. If he could, he would sleep in, roll around his bed when he woke up and go down for breakfast when it was already noontime. However, it was April. And April meant the beginning of his third and last year of high school.

So, Kuroo was up by five and ready to leave his home in less than half an hour. He knew that he needed to pick up his best friend and make certain that they both got to school on time for their morning practice. His mom was up by the time he was at the door, looking at him with tired eyes and stumbling for her morning cup of coffee.

"Have a good day, Tetsu." She waved him off and he grinned, hand raised in a greeting as he closed the door. Kenma was asleep when he arrived at his home, as usual. Kuroo had a nice chat with his parents and finally managed to drag the sleepy setter out of his home by six, fed and clothed. Really, it was like having a slightly overgrown child.

"Nekomata called in a morning practice and meeting." Kuroo pointed out as they boarded the train, Kenma's eyes never leaving his PSP. There was a new game he was trying to beat, something about needing sixty more hours to do so. Kuroo, honestly, didn't get it. While he liked games well enough, he wasn't nearly as devoted as Kenma was.

"Mm." Nodded the setter.

"This time…" Kuroo trailed off, swaying with the train movement slightly. "We'll get to the Nationals." Kenma's eyes left the PSP screen, focusing on Kuroo. The small setter nodded once again, a tiny smile on his face.

Practice was tiring, filled with stray shots and shouts about 'sorry', 'cover' or 'get the last'. But, it was a normal thing for them, until they found their groove. Kuroo's legs felt like cooked noodles when Nekomata pulled him to the side before he had the chance to go head for the showers.

"Kuroo, we need a manager." The coach told him, watching as the boys filed out, heading for the showers and the changing room. After he got a nod, the man continued. "The third-years are doing all the manager duties at this point and I don't want you to just bump the chores down a year."

"Anything specific that I should be looking for?" Kuroo asked, hand on his hip, trying to put all of his weight on one leg, before switching to the other.

"Yes." Nekomata searched his notes, before tearing out a paper from the back. Kuroo noted a list of names. "These are the names of second-years who aren't in clubs at the moment. See if any of them would be interested in picking up the manager duties here." Nekomata glanced at the door. "We need someone who can deal with these boys' antics."

"Yamamoto-proof, I got it." Kuroo snickered.

"If we luck out with second-years, we'll try to hunt down a first-year girl before they all get snatched by other clubs." The coach said. "Good luck." Kuroo headed for the showers with a nod, clutching the list in his hand. This was going to be a bother, he knew already. "And Kuroo," The boy turned back, one hand at the door. "Don't scare them too much." The captain's laughter rang out as he continued on his way.

* * *

"Won't you join a club this year?" Sakurano Niko asked, stopping her daughter in her tracks. For years it had been a debate in their neighborhood about the gist of their relationship. The rumor mill simply couldn't connect the two as mother and daughter, which wasn't really a surprise. While Sakurano Niko was a short, petite, clearly Japanese woman in her late forties, her daughter, Chiharu, was a tanned, curly haired and seemingly foreign child. It took years for one of their neighbors to ask Niko about their relation and get a completely straightforward answer. Sakurano Chiharu was half Cuban, from her father's side, inheriting wild hair, large lips, and his dark complexion. All in all, it made her stick out like a sore thumb wherever she went.

"Maybe." Chiharu replied, pushing her breakfast around her bowl with her spoon. She hadn't joined one of the numerus clubs at school in her first year. After entering high school, she wanted to make certain that her grades were good and that she had a secure future ahead of her of easy winnings. Joining a club would've offered more opportunities for making friends, but it also would've taken up her afternoons completely. Besides, none of the clubs listed as available had intrigued her.

"Chiharu, you need to make more friends." Niko frowned, sitting down next to her daughter. "High school is all about going a bit crazy, you know?" Her mother grinned.

"Maybe I should join a gang?"

"Eeeh?!" Niko's shout of surprise made her daughter burst into giggles. "I'm joking, mom." She shook her head and quickly finished off the last few bites of her breakfast. "I don't think I'd make a good yankee." She giggled.

"Well, you never know." Her mother shrugged. There was a short pause in their conversation as Chiharu straightened out her uniform and grabbed her bag. "Chiharu." Niko stopped her daughter at the door, as the girl was slipping on her shoes. "You're happy, right?" The look on her mother's face made Chiharu force a wide grin onto her lips.

"Yeah!" She energetically offered, but the smile slipped off of her face as soon as she was turned away from Niko.

"Good." Her mother added. ''Have a good day!" And Chiharu was off. As she headed towards the train station, she mused about her mother's question. Happy. Well, it wasn't that she wasn't happy. But it wasn't like she was super happy. She was more like… indifferent about it? Chiharu had friends. She had a best friend and classmates and she properly participated in all class activities. They all went out for karaoke or food from time to time. She studied together with her best friend, a girl named Kudō Akari, a vivacious seatmate who had been in her class during the first year. All in all, it was a good high school experience, Chiharu supposed.

Happy? Was she happy with that?

* * *

"Yo, Kenma." Kuroo entered the second years' classroom like he owned it and headed for his friend's desk. There were a few heads which turned, mostly girls and boys who hadn't been in Kenma's class last year. The rest, though, were used to Kuroo being a constant during breaks. "You're class three this year? Anyone still here from last semester?"

"Mm." Kenma nodded, eyes not leaving his cellphone. He was busy arranging a team play game for the afternoon. They still needed a healer to get them through the dungeon. "A few."

"Any new friends?" Kuroo sat down on the desk next to his friend's, its owner absent.

"Making new friends during homeroom is impossible." The setter deadpanned, making his friend chuckle.

"Amazing expression." Kuroo laughed at the setter's displeased face, now definitely gaining everyone's attention because of his odd guffaw. A few girls in the back giggled. "Say, do you know any of these people?" Kuroo asked, passing a paper to the setter. "They're all second-years." Kenma took the list, looking it over. "Nekomata wants me to scout them for the manager position for this year."

"Mm." The setter mused, reading through the names once more. The bell rang out, making Kuroo hop up.

"Well, I'll be back later." The captain shrugged. "Let me know if you know any of these. It'll make talking to them easier, no?" Kenma gave a tiny nod as Kuroo left the classroom and headed back up to the third floor.

* * *

"Lucky!" Akari chimed, patting her desk happily. "We're next to each other this year, too!" Chiharu nodded with a smile. "I was worried that I'd be in the same class as Nishimura this year and without Haru-chin." Akari's face scrunched up in a rather interesting expression. "That would've been the worst!"

"That's not a nice thing to say, idiiiiot." Chiharu sang out the last word with a small smile, tutting.

"But, it's the truth!" Akari defended. "I really don't get along well with her type!" Nishimura Megumi was a pretty, yet terribly fickle, girl from their first-year class. She'd made Akari absolutely miserable and self-conscious with her constant comments and jibes. All in all, while Chiharu wouldn't say it out loud, she was happy to be parted from the blonde menace.

"Gossiping already?" Fukuda Itsuki wandered over, one eyebrow raised. The tall boy from the basketball club had been with them last year, as well, finding a good dynamic with the two girls. At some point, they'd nicknamed him Ikki, which was a nickname he didn't really like and couldn't really get rid of at this point. It had somehow spread through the second-years and his basketball team, which meant that it was there to stay. Still, he often hung out with the girls.

"Not at all." Akari sighed. "Just thankful to whichever Kami was looking out for me this year." She sighed, looking up.

"That Megu-tan is in class three?" Ikki grinned.

"That I'm not in class three!" Chiharu and Akari replied in unison, before bursting into giggles.

"I kinda feel sorry for her class, though." Ikki nodded. Then, he grinned conspiratorially. "They won't know what hit them!" He guffawed.

"You're evil, Ikki!" Akari laughed.

"Definitely evil." Chiharu confirmed, despite his grumbled complains.

* * *

During the lunch break, Kuroo began his hunt on second-year girls. He chuckled whenever he thought about the nickname he'd given his operation, but it made it all the more memorable. Yaku and Kai had similar reactions when they heard the name, sending him off with wishes of 'good luck' and 'do your best'. Kai also added 'don't scar them for life', which Kuroo felt personally offended about.

"So, that's Yui-chan?" He asked, pointing at the short-haired girl who was talking with a few of her friends eagerly. She seemed lively, he supposed.

"Mm." After getting Kenma's confirmation, Kuroo attacked. All conversation among the second-year girls went quiet when he walked over, blushes spreading across their cheeks as they nudged each other.

"He's coming over. He's coming over." One girl giggled.

"Hello!" Kuroo opened quite lamely, in his opinion, but the girls didn't seem to mind. They just giggled and chorused a greeting back. "You're Endo Yui-chan, right?" The girl in question blushed, even more, looking at her feet. She nodded timidly. "I'm Kuroo Tetsurō, from the volleyball club."

"We know who you are, Kuroo-senpai." One of the taller girls chimed in with a small smile. "We saw you play last year at the Inter High."

"A second-year regular!" Another girl piped up. "So cool!" What bothered Kuroo was the fact that Yui was still looking at her shoes. Too timid, maybe? He wasn't sure if she could withstand Yamamoto if she was too shy. He was a tiger that one. A girl-obsessed tiger. Kuroo's mental image of a Yamamoto dressed in a full-body tiger costume wasn't flattering at all.

"Thanks." He grinned. "So, Yui-chan, I wanted to ask if you'd planned on joining a club this year?" She was blushing horribly at him calling her by her first name. "We're looking for a manager if you are?"

"Ah." Now, she did look up at him. "I'm sorry." Yui told him.

"Yui's joining the track team this year." The tallest of the group told him. "I kind of pushed her into it, but she wants to try it out, regardless."

"Oh, I see." Kuroo nodded. "Well, good luck!" He didn't allow his disappointment to show on his face, masking it with a grin.

"I'm sorry." Yui offered a small bow to him and he waved her off with a 'don't mind'. The girl was too sweet, too shy and overly formal with him. Yamamoto would chase her away in seconds.

"You should come watch our practice sometime, Kuroo-senpai!" The tall girl yelled after him as he was leaving, making Kuroo raise a hand and wave goodbye. But, he didn't confirm or deny. With the volleyball practice, he'd learnt during his first year not to make promises to girls. They could get quite scary, after all. He'd had a rather enthusiastic crowd following him in both his first and second year, asking him to visit  _their_  practice since he'd already visited another girl's. Since then, Kuroo watched what he said around those relentless harpies, nickname given from absolute respect for their tenacity.

Unfortunately, the rest of Kuroo's lunch break was spent in much the same fashion: utter rejection. While Kenma was helpful, pointing out girl after girl, seriously, how did he know their names despite never having talked to them, Kuroo began to doubt his charm. Some of the girls had already joined clubs or were planning to. And, others, they had part-time jobs or were planning on helping out at home more. By the end of the lunch break, he only had three names left on the list Nekomata had given him and was beginning to feel irritated with his hunt on second-year girls. It had been much more fun in his mind.

So, utterly defeated, Kuroo headed back to his floor, not daring to report to Yaku or Kai.

* * *

"Hey, isn't that a senpai?" Akari's head popped up, neck craning to see if the sentence was true. The girls closer to the door were pushing together, heads outside the classroom, before ducking back in to giggle.

"It is!"

"It's the one from the volleyball club. So tall!"

"Kuroo-senpai, right?" One of the giggling girls said. "I heard he was made captain this year."

"That's pretty hot." Another giggled.

"Haru-chin, wanna go see?" Akari practically begged. She had that expression on her face, making puppy-dog eyes at her best friend with high expectations. Chiharu sighed, knowing that she couldn't defeat that look.

"Okay." She grinned. "Let's go get you your fill of hot senpai captains for the day." But, before she could stand up, the chatter in the classroom went quiet.

"Is Sakurano Chiharu here?" The 'hot' volleyball captain had his head inside the classroom, one hand on the doorway. He is pretty good looking, Chiharu mused. If you were into the whole 'I just got out of bed' look. Akari's elbow hit her side, painfully digging in.

"That's her, over there." One of the girls who had been giggling a second ago replied on pure instinct, her finger pointing at Chiharu. The girl herself, however, didn't dare look up. Before she could do anything, though, Kuroo-senpai was at the desk in front of hers, pulling out the chair and sitting down the wrong way around. She instantly felt her irritation spike, a scowl appearing on her face.

"Hello! I'm Kuroo Tetsurō, captain of the volleyball club." He introduced himself with a grin, sounding completely confident. That was the moment Chiharu looked up at him, because even when he's sitting he's still taller than her, and she put one hand up, stopping him from speaking.

"I'm sorry, I can't accept your feelings." She deadpanned. "I'm not looking for a relationship at the moment." And the whole class went wild in seconds. Though, the most endearing thing was the way Kuroo-senpai's face went red, like some kind of a tomato bedhead, completely mortified. She'd obviously shot down his confidence into the deepest hole there was.

"Come with me for a bit." Despite his red face and absolute mortification, Kuroo-senpai grabbed her wrist, pulling her up from her seat and towards the door. Cheeks heated, Chiharu followed, ignoring Akari's laughter behind them.

* * *

Kuroo was absolutely mortified. Completely and totally. In his seventeen years on this Earth, he had never had a girl do that to him. He had rejected and accepted confessions, yes. But, he had never been shot down for an obviously misinterpreted confession of his own. To say that his face was red and that his ego was shattered would be a total understatement. In a shaky tone, he quickly explained why he was in the second years' classroom as soon as he had the girl outside of the room and next to the window, away from prying ears. Though, there was still a crowd of giggling girls and boys, pushing to see what would come next, at the door of class two.

"Oh, I see." The girl in front of him nodded. "I'm sorry for the misunderstanding." She gave him a tiny polite bow.

"God, please forget that and don't remind me so that I can, too." He growled, hand rising to cover his face, still red as a tomato. The smirk on her lips, eyes looking up at him, told him that she would definitely  _not_  be forgetting his mortification anytime soon.

"Alright." She replied, though, countering the smug expression.

"Jeez, is that a way to talk to your senpai?" Kuroo leaned back on one leg, hands coming up to his hips. He'd forgotten all about his goal of the hunt on second-year girls at that moment, aiming only to make her face as red as his got a few moments ago. And, her eyes did go to the floor, a red tint on her tanned cheeks. "A cold rejection, huh?"

"I'm sorry, already, alright?" The girl didn't back down, though. Her dark eyes met his with a hard stare. "Tell me more about the position, won't you, Kuroo-senpai?" She gestured for him to continue.

"It's nothing too difficult, I promise." Kuroo refocused on his goal. She was interested! And, judging by that look in her eye and her general manner, she would be able to deal with Yamamoto without too much hassle. "A manager generally supports the team. So, it's basically re-filling the water bottles, making sure we have towels and sometimes maybe washing our jerseys. Though, Yaku mostly takes care of that last one, so it's optional." He explains. "Sometimes you may need to help us scout out the competition during official matches or jot down the weak points you notice during our own plays."

"I see." Chiharu nodded. "Are there any away games? Or times when we need to leave for multiple days?"

"Sometimes." Kuroo nodded. "But, we will tell you in advance and they won't make you miss class, if that's what you're worried about." The girl took out her phone and opened up the calendar app, looking at the dates he was mentioning.

"When's practice?"

"Every day before school for an hour and after school for two or three hours."

"Weekends?"

"Depends, but we mostly get the keys to the gym and usually stay for up to six or seven hours there. If there's a match coming up soon, maybe even longer."

"And when does it start?"

"On weekdays we start around six forty in the morning or so and on weekends around seven." Kuroo lists off. "But, it's always up for a vote."

"I can't stay after school on Wednesdays."

"That's alright, as long as you come to the morning practice."

"Alright."

"Alright." There was a moment of silence, where they just looked at each other. "Then, you'll come check us out after school today?"

"Sure." The girl giggled and Kuroo almost facepalmed at his bad wording. "I'm looking forward to it."

"See you then, Chiharu-chan." And Kuroo left the second-year floor with a smirk on his face just as the bell chimed, despite the previous embarrassment. After all, he had left the girl blushing quite obviously in the corridor by calling her by her first name rather intimately. He definitely still had it!

* * *

"Oh my God, that was horrible!" Akari laughed during their last break of the day. "Did you see his face? Brutal, Haru-chin! Absolutely brutal!"

"Savage." Ikki grinned, as well, coming to join the girls at their desks.

"Please, forget about it." Chiharu's face was lowered, forehead pressed against her desk's surface. Akari and Ikki shared a look, nodding. She was definitely blushing like mad, by her position. And, not even her tan cheeks could hide the redness. "I don't know what I was thinking! Why would he confess to someone like me? In the middle of the classroom, too?!" The two friends laughed at her.

"Regardless, it was like a bad rom-com scene." Ikki nodded sagely. "I loved it!" He shamelessly guffawed at Chiharu's red face, now peeking up from her desk. She scowled.

"Sheesh! Would you quit it, dammit!" The girl defended.

"I'm sorry, Kuroo-senpai! I can't accept your youthful feelings!" Akari mocked in a high pitched-tone, her arms making ridiculously extravagant motions, like a drama queen.

"I don't sound like that!" Chiharu growled out.

"Kuroo-senpai!" Ikki joined in, his tone also painfully high.

"And it didn't go like that!" The two second-years were too far gone, though, laughing like mad. It took them a few minutes to compose themselves, before Akari turned to Chiharu, brows furrowed and mouth crooked to the side. It was her thinking face.

"Are you gonna go?" She asked. Ikki also stopped goofing off and focused on Chiharu. The girl shrugged.

"I'll go today and see how it looks." She replied. "Mom's been bugging me to join a club, after all. She's worried that I'm always alone at home when she and dad are away for work."

"You should just join our club as the manager, then." Ikki grumbled. "Momo is a third year, she needs someone to take up the torch after her."

"No way." Chiharu stuck out her tongue at him. "You boys are crazy! It's too much hassle." She'd gone last year to watch their practice with Akari, when Ikki had completely talked their ears off about it. And, it had been loud, stinky and full of boys making passes at them. She didn't want to be the zoo keeper for those guys.

"You think the volleyball team will be less trouble?" Ikki grunted out. "They're nuts, you know?"

"Really?" Akari piped up.

"Yeah, they have crazy Tora on their team. You know, that guy that creepily looks at girls from afar, Yamamoto Taketora?" The name rang a bell in Chiharu's mind, but she couldn't connect it to a face. "He was in class five last year."

"There's also Kuroo-senpai." Akari sighed. "He may be eye-candy but he looks like a real playboy, you know?" Chiharu stayed silent, taking in the information. Her friends also listed a few more names. Someone named Yaku, who was apparently a sweet third-year, but a total shorty. And, also, a second year named Fukunaga they didn't know a lot about, except that he was pretty quiet.

But, as they were arguing about the members of the Boys' Volleyball Club, Chiharu's thoughts wandered back to her lunch break. She'd gone to the teachers' lounge to ask about the clubs that still had open spots or were recruiting second-years. While the Japanese History teacher, her homeroom professor, left her alone to go and print out a list for her, Nekomata Yasufumi had waved her over from his desk. The old teacher had told her that he was the coach of the volleyball club and explained to her how they needed a manager that year. He'd asked her about what kind of a club she was looking to join and told her a bit about the boys on the team. But, there had been one sentence which had played on repeat in Chiharu's head for the rest of the day.

"They may be troublesome and loud, and occasionally annoying, but they make certain that everyone on the team is happy." Nekomata-sensei had grinned up at her from his seat. And, Chiharu couldn't help but connect that moment with the one from a few hours ago. Her mother's face, expression between worried and sad, asking her if she was happy.

* * *

**Sooooo, yeaaaaaah. I did a thing. This is the thing. Tell me how you liked the thing. At this point, I'm just so eager to write about Haru and Tetsu… Well, I hope that you guys enjoyed and I will probably have the next chapter out in a week or so. Due to the length, updating this will take a bit longer that the drabbles.**

**All my best!**

* * *

Omake:

"Did you hear?" A girl giggled to her friends right next to Kenma's desk. "Kuroo-senpai was arranging some kind of a 'friends with benefits' in the corridor earlier." Just as Kenma was preparing to block out the gossip, he stopped, paused his game, and focused on what the girls were saying. Kuroo was doing  _what_ earlier?

"I saw it!" The other girl replied. "She had the calendar on her phone open and they were choosing love hotels for different days!"

"Are you serious?" Kenma wanted to echo that sentence in a slightly different tone. That didn't… Heck, that  _did_  sound like something Kuroo would do damn it.

"Yeah! And he said he could go for six or seven hours, but it was up for a vote!" One of them almost shrieked, hands on her flushed face.

"O.M.G!" They were giggling now.

"I wonder if Kuroo-senpai would let me book a date with him, too?" Kenma was well aware of his face making one of the 'interesting expressions' he usually reserved for utter idiocy. He forced his expression to become indifferent again, so that he could go unnoticed as he eavesdropped.

"Six hours!" Another round of giggles.

"Wait, who was the girl?" Came a question Kenma really wanted to hear the answer to.

"That tanned beach bunny one, from class two. Errr… What was her name again?" The girl who had started the whole conversation scrunched up her face in concentration.

"Sakura?" Another asked.

"No, no, her last name went with Sakura." The first one replied. "Her given name is something like Chihiro."

"Oh, like the model, Sakurano Chihiro?"

"Yeah! Sakurano Chiharu! That's her name!" The first girl nodded. "Do you think she's related to Chi-chan?"

"Pffft no way! They look nothing alike!" And then, Kenma actually tuned out their gossip, returning to his game. He couldn't help the way his eyebrows furrowed, mind racing. What had Kuroo  _done_?

* * *

**This Omake had me giggling like mad, what about you guys?**

* * *

**On the other hand, a bit of info:**

**Length of story: Will have multiple chapters, around 30 or so, I hope**

**Length of chapters: Each will be 4k words or above**

**Frequency of updates: Irregular (quality over quantity)**

**Pairing: Kuroo/OC**

**Rating: T (It's Kuroo, so better be on the safe side, right?)**

**Timeline: Starts at the beginning of Kuroo's third year and should end around the graduation or so**

* * *

**I'm looking for someone to beta this, if anyone is interested, give me a holler.**

* * *

**Until next time!**


	2. The Zoo

**Hello all and welcome to another chapter of The Zookeeper :D**

* * *

**My thanks goes out to my wonderful beta hestia8639, who is doing an amazing job despite being new to beta reading :)**

**Also, I'd like to give a special thanks to everyone who left kudos and put this story into their bookmarks. Especially, though, I'm grateful to eunoaipaint for the wonderful comment.**

* * *

**Enjoy!**

**Chapter 2: The Zoo**

"You're going then?" Akari gathered her books and placed them in her school bag, eyes wandering over to her friend.

"I guess so," Chiharu replied, getting her own books together. "Do you have gym clothes I could borrow? Mine are in the washer."

"Sure, just grab them from my locker." Akari smiled. "Though, they might be a bit small on you." Her head tilted to the side, watching Chiharu stand. When the two girls stood side by side you could clearly spot their differences. Chiharu was about a head taller than her friend and curvier. Her body had changed drastically during middle school, her half Cuban heritage showing in more than just her tanned skin. The girl had thick thighs and a fairly large behind when compared to others around her. Chiharu had, of course, cried and went on a diet over it, until her father had had enough. Those were genes coming from his mother directly and she'd better be proud of them, he'd told her. Though, it didn't stop Chiharu from being self-conscious in each and every gym class and rarely accepting invitations to go to the pool with her friends during summer. Her chest had grown, too, making some of the girls give her a nasty nickname about the asset that made her rather popular among boys.

"I think I'll be fine. It's just for today, after all." Chiharu shrugged. "Besides, you wear a size bigger, don't you?"

"It's comfortable, okay?! Comfortable!" Akari defended. Truth be told, she didn't like the gym clothes that stuck to her skin. It made boys stare and girls become overly envious. And that spelled trouble when you were in high school.

"I didn't say anything, sheesh," Chiharu sighed as the two girls headed out. "I'll have them back to you tomorrow. Thanks."

"No probs." Akari smiled. "Have fun! I'll text you later?"

"Okay." And they headed in opposite directions, each to their own club activities.

It took Chiharu a while to find the gym where the Boys' Volleyball Team was practicing. Luckily, she bumped into Kenma, who was standing in the middle of the path, engrossed in his video game. He showed her to the girls' locker room where Chiharu changed quickly. Akari's gym clothes smelled of her fabric softener: something lemon-scented, which clashed with the perfume that Chiharu preferred. But, beggars couldn't be choosers. So, dressed in shorts that were a bit too tight on her and a shirt that awkwardly stretched over her breasts, Chiharu headed for the gym Kenma had pointed out.

As soon as she got close she heard yelling, the telltale sounds of a ball hitting the floor, and the squeaking of gym shoes. She tentatively opened the door and peeked inside. There were around ten or so boys inside, tossing colorful balls to each other, calling out for their own opportunity to hit the thing over the net. All in all, it looked a bit like a zoo. A big, messy zoo full of sweaty boys.

"What am I doing?" Chiharu said to herself with a small sigh and entered bravely, sliding her outdoor shoes off at the door. When she was inside she realized that she didn't have any sneakers, so she would have to continue in just her socks. So, with another sigh, she wandered over to the coaches' bench.

"Welcome, Sakurano-san," Coach Nekomata greeted her immediately, eyes never leaving the jumping teens on the court. "I see that Kuroo was able to persuade you to come?"

"He was… persistent," Chiharu chuckled, nodding. She liked the old teacher, all in all. Even in class, he always had time for each of his students and he made certain to remember all of their names, even if they were only in his class for a year. The other coach blew his whistle, getting the attention of the whole gym.

"Gather 'round!" he called out. Soon enough, there was a crowd of sweaty boys grabbing their water bottles and settling on the floor in a half circle around the bench. Chiharu recognized Kuroo, Kenma, and a boy from second year whose name she couldn't recall. The captain gave her a grin and a small wave as he sat down, making her nod back. "This is Sakurano Chiharu, she will be joining us today for practice as a trial manager." Instantly, all eyes were on her.

"H-hello. I'm Sakurano," she greeted awkwardly, not really sure where to look. She finally settled on Kenma, as he looked the most bored. One of the boys, the one with an odd mohawk kind of hairdo was staring at her so intently that it made her feel overly self-conscious of her getup. "I usually go by Haru. Ummm… I'm in my second year, class two," she trailed off, eyes going to Kuroo. He gave her an encouraging look, so she kept talking. "I don't know much about volleyball, so I'll be in your care." She bowed, glad to look at the polished floor of the gym instead of the group of eager boys and their smirking captain.

"Osu!" Chiharu's head shot up at the loud shout.

"Well, why don't you introduce yourselves?" Nekomata spoke up, and Haru's eyes darted to him. "You already know myself and Naoi, don't you, Sakurano?"

"Ah, yes!" She stood straight as a rod. The boy with the mohawk was still watching her like a hawk.

"You already know me, too," Kuroo spoke up, seeming to take pity on her. "This is Kai and that's Yaku, our third-years." He pointed to the boys. "Here we've got Kenma, Yamamoto, and Fukunaga, the second-years. And these are the first-year grunts which you don't need to know the names of."

"Kuroo-san!" There was shouting and complaining, along with laughter, mostly coming from the first years. But, the tense atmosphere had been broken and Haru was beyond thankful. She chuckled a bit, enjoying watching the way the boys interacted with their senpai and captain informally. It seemed like a good group, she decided.

"Alright!" Nekomata called for order, instantly shutting the boys up. "She'll learn your names soon enough, don't worry. For now, get back to practicing so that we can make our choice of regulars for the year."

"Osu!" And the boys were up, leaving their water bottles on the bench hazardously. Haru noticed Kuroo hesitating for a second before receiving a look from his coach and jogging over to the court.

"Sakurano," Nekomata called her over and Chiharu settled on the bench beside him. The younger coach, Naoi, Haru reminded herself, stood and began to give instructions. "We're a bit busy today, since this is the first day for the first-years. We need to assess them and see who will fill in for those who graduated last year."

"I see," she said with a nod. "What should I do?"

"You can take care of the water bottles and the towels for today, alright?" Nekoma told her, still watching the boys. He gave a small smile when one of the tall first-years completely missed a ball, striking air with his hand. "Just wash and refill them outside, there's a sink close to the entrance. As for the towels, here." He took a keychain from his pocket with a dozen keys on it. "The small one is for the locker room, they're in the light blue metal storage unit there. We'll need thirteen for today."

"Alright." Haru nodded and hopped to her feet, clutching the keys in her hand.

* * *

Kuroo took a break after the first hour and a half, sweating like hell. The first-years weren't too bad, he supposed. One particularly sucked, the half-Russian tall boy. Though, he had the sense and height to compensate for his lack of skills, Kuroo supposed. And, he was eager to learn. But, Kuroo was more interested in their trial manager at that point. She'd been entering and exiting the gym often, carrying different water bottles with her each time. He'd shamelessly timed her, too. About three rallies for her to fill four bottles. And, it had taken her six to come back with a pile of towels. Now, though, she was nowhere to be seen.

"Where's Chiharu?" Kuroo asked Nekomata when he came over to the bench.

"She took the last of the water bottles to refill a while ago," the coach replied. "Will you check on her? She's taking a while."

"Sure." Kuroo placed his towel around his neck and headed outside, changing his sneakers on the way. Sure enough, he spotted the girl by the nearby outside sinks, talking to a couple of tall guys. She seemed to be trying to fill the water bottles. Kuroo tilted his head to the side, wondering if he should interrupt. The moment the girl gathered the water bottles into her arms and started to leave, one of the boys caught her arm and pulled her back. As the bottles fell to the ground, Kuroo's legs moved.

"Chiharu," he called out in an easy-going tone, "did you stop to fill a pool on your way?"For a second, he worried that she might get upset that he interrupted, but the look of relief that she gave him upon hearing his voice was worth all the trouble Kuroo was now certain would follow. She really was a curious one, this girl.

"Butt out, volley nerd." One of the boys stepped in front of him, cutting off his path to the clearly panicking girl.

"Oya?" Kuroo tilted his head to the side. The boy was as tall as he was, but he had a bit more muscle on him. This could prove troublesome. The other two weren't pushovers, either, and Kuroo  _really_ wasn't looking forward to a mess now. "We need our manager inside, though."

"I'm sorry I took so much time, Kuroo-senpai." Haru bent down, gathering the water bottles with shaky hands.

"It's alright." He grinned lazily, walking over to help her, still hyperaware of the three boys that stood around them.

"We were talking here, Kuroo- _senpai._ " Trouble with a capital T. Kuroo straightened, meeting one of the boys' glares head on.

"Seemed to me like you were ganging up on her." Kuroo smirked. "But, that's just me." He shrugged. Haru busied herself with re-washing the outside of the bottles.

"We were just talking, alright." Kuroo did  _not_  like that tone.

"Oi, Kuroo, Haru, coach is calling for you." If there was a time when Kuroo was glad to have Yamamoto interrupt, it was just then. The ace walked over, a familiar glare on his face. Despite being shorter than the three boys he made them back up easily. "What do you guys want?" His chin tilted up, in a clear challenge.

"N-nothing." Obviously, the sight of their slightly yankee ace had the trio backing up and losing their confidence.

"C'mon, let's get back to practice." Then they were gone. Kuroo let out a small sigh. He looked over at Haru, noticing that she was trembling all over, but still washing the bottles.

"Hey, you alright?" He asked her. She gave a small nod and grabbed all the water bottles, heading back inside. Yamamoto gave Kuroo a look, before walking after her. Kuroo let out a sigh, hands going to his hips. He'd known that having a manager would be troublesome, but he hadn't counted on this kind of trouble. He reminded himself that she was a  _girl_  and that he had to look out for her.

* * *

Chiharu didn't dare go outside without one of the boys for the rest of the practice, regardless of the low chances of a repeat of the previous situation. The tall trio had been from the basketball club and they'd recognized her from all the times she'd watched Ikki play. They had started hounding her to give them her number or hang out with them after practice. Obviously, she hadn't been interested. She wasn't experienced in those sorts of situations. But, with Akari's gym clothes and her tan skin, she knew the kind of image she gave. So, she'd been over the moon when Kuroo had wandered over with that easy-going attitude of his. And, the scary one with the mohawk had helped her, too. She needed to thank them both.

Luckily for her, the first years were eager to have her remember their names. Two in particular had stuck by her side whenever they weren't playing: Inuoka Sō and Haiba Lev. She'd been wary of the latter at first. He towered over her and had silver-bleached hair. But, then she'd realized that he was half-Japanese, like her, his Russian genes giving him his height and odd hair color. They had bonded instantly over their genes, sympathizing with how they stood out and got called weird nicknames because of their foreign characteristics. Inuoka, on the other hand, had simply been a ray of sunshine, providing her with seemingly endless volleyball slang terms and explaining the most amazing plays of the day to her. When practice ended, Chiharu was a bit sad to go.

"Gather 'round!" Naoi called out, making the boys grab their water bottles and sit on the floor yet again. "Nekomata-sensei will give the standard starting line-up based on today's practice."

"You all did well today," Nekomata began, causing any leftover chatter to die out. "It seems that we have some interesting new blood this year. So, here is our starting line-up for now." He looked down at his notebook and listed off. "Number one, middle blocker and captain, Kuroo Tetsurō." The boy grinned. "Number two, wing spiker, Kai. Number three, libero, Yaku. Number four, wing spiker, Yamamoto. Number five, setter, Kenma. Number six, wing spiker, Fukunaga. Number seven, middle blocker, Inuoka." Chiharu took care to connect each name being called out with the face it belonged to. She shared an excited grin with Inuoka when his name was called out.

"We will be ordering jerseys soon," Naoi picked up where Nekomata left off, but the excited chatter between the boys didn't completely die out. "So, prepare to be measured tomorrow before morning practice." This caused even more excitement. "For now, stretch properly and clean up. Dismissed!"

"Osu!" the boys chorused and there was a commotion as they got up.

"So, what do you think, Sakurano?" Naoi asked as the boys paired off, helping each other with stretches. He towered over her as they stood side by side, watching the group.

"They're lively." The girl smiled. "But, I'm not sure I'm cut out for this kind of work," she told him honestly.

"It's alright." Naoi nodded. "You're allowed to say no, Sakurano." The coach smiled at her and walked off, giving instructions to Lev and Inuoka who were yelling at each other about something.

* * *

"So, what do you think?" Kuroo asked Kenma as the two walked to the train stop. The setter was already immersed in his game, play-walking. But, he did glance up at his friend for a second at the question.

"Lev is annoying." Kenma spoke in an even voice, but Kuroo chuckled, being able to tell that the second-year was irritated. "His spikes are messed up. The timing is all wrong."

"Well, he just started." Kuroo shrugged. "Cut him some slack." He caught the strap of Kenma's bag, stopping him as they reached the waiting area at the train station. "What about the rest of the first years? Inuoka and Shibayama are pretty good, right?"

"Inuoka is decent. He'll be good in matches," Kenma agreed. "But Shibayama isn't Yaku."

"True." Kuroo sighed. "We'll need to properly torture him so that you guys have a good libero next year." There was a small silence between the two. They both knew that it was Kuroo, Kai, and Yaku's last year of high school. But, the reality of it still hadn't sunk in. The thought of playing volleyball without Kuroo at Nekoma was a bit daunting to Kenma. "Chiharu did okay, too. Think she'll join?"

"Mm," Kenma hummed, struggling with a monster on his PSP. The game over sound rang out. He turned the PSP off and placed it in his pocket. "I don't know."

"She had a bit of a situation with some boys during breaktime," Kuroo explained, getting Kenma's full attention. "They were hitting on her and she looked positively lost. Tora and I helped out, but she seemed shaken."

"Mm," Kenma mused as they got on the train. "I don't know. Chiharu was in my class last year," he explained. "She seemed like a strong character."

"I see," Kuroo replied. "Well, nothing we can do now, right?" He shrugged. "It's her decision in the end."

* * *

"I'm home!" Haru called out, bending down to slip off her shoes. She didn't hear a reply, but that didn't surprise her at all. With her parents always working, they weren't at home often, especially in the afternoons and evenings. As for her brother and sister, the former had his own flat, close to his workplace, and the latter lived on her college campus. It was pretty rare to see either of them at home. Haru never stopped calling out to the empty house, though, just in case. If someone was home, she wanted to greet them properly.

"Why the hell do you even own a phone?" Haru had almost reached the ground floor bathroom when the voice sounded behind her. She jumped, shrieking and dropping her stuff.

"Onee-san." Haru turned around to find her older sister giving her a glare. If you saw them together, you could probably guess that they were related. They had the same tanned skin and curly hair, after all. Though, it was clear that Chiharu had taken after their father more, being curvy. Her older sister, in turn, had a slim body and distinctly Asian facial features, making her quite the exotic beauty with her curly hair.

"Oh Kami, you go to school like that?" Her sister gave her a once over. "No wonder you don't have a boyfriend." She shook her head and headed back towards the living room. Chiharu grabbed her things from the floor and followed.

"Onee-san, why are you here? Don't you have a shoot today?" Those words seemed to make her sister freeze and slowly turn around.

"Oh, I  _do_  have a shoot," she hissed. "Or, I  _did._ " Her glare was positively venomous. "But, mom called and begged me to be home when you got back from school. She didn't want you to come to an empty house." Haru bit her lip. "But,  _someone_  is  _four_   _hours_  late! And when I called, and I did call, you couldn't even pick up!" Haru opened her mouth, but her sister raised a hand. "You know what? I don't want to hear your excuses. I'm calling Masao to come get me now that you're finally here." The young model spun on her heel with a swish of her perfect curls, leaving behind the scent of expensive floral perfume.

Haru shut her mouth in silence and trudged back towards the bathroom in silence. As she placed Akari's gym clothes in the washer she heard her sister make a phone call, cooing to her boyfriend, Masao, over the cell. Then, the TV turned on. Haru poured the detergent and started the correct program for the clothes. For a moment, she leaned her hands on the washer, head lolling in between them, relaxed and eyes closed. She enjoyed the soft rumble underneath her that moved her whole body, lulling her into sleep. But, Haru knew that she couldn't hide in the bathroom forever.

She didn't dare go back to the kitchen or the living room, knowing that her sister was on a warpath. So, although she felt hungry, she headed upstairs to her room in silence. After all, to get to the kitchen she would need to go past the living room. And, with her sister's current mood, that would mean another loud lecture which Haru, honestly, didn't have the strength to listen to. When she stripped out of her uniform and had her books on the desk she plopped down over the messy covers just in her underwear.

She was  _tired_. And, she hadn't even done much outside of her usual routine that day. Sure, she'd watched the boys practice. Filled a few water bottles. Carried over a few towels. It had all been easy, manual work. The changing rooms were close and the outside sink was also nearby. Chiharu did more work every day after school when she was on her own. She usually did her homework, cooked, ate, studied, and then danced around her room or watched a show. Often, she messed around with one of the new imaging softwares on her PC.

Joining the Boys' Volleyball Club as their manager would mean saying goodbye to those relaxing afternoons. She would need to find time on other days to do her chores and enjoy herself. With a sigh, Haru pushed herself up. Did she even  _want_  to sacrifice her peaceful afternoons for a club? Would it be worth the trouble? She honestly didn't know. Though, she was certain that she liked talking to Inuoka and Lev. She would miss the two rambunctious boys if she didn't join. She would try again the next day and see, Haru decided. If tomorrow, after both the morning and afternoon practice, she still felt like she was wasting her time, she would look for a different club. After all, there was a list of recruiting ones in the top drawer of her desk, waiting. So, the girl got dressed in her PJs and quickly attacked her homework, aiming to go to bed as early as she could. Though, she couldn't help the uneasy, almost guilty feeling in her stomach. Her mind kept wandering back to the smiling faces of the boys whose names she'd just began learning as they welcomed her as a part of their sports family. This was going to be trouble, she could tell.

* * *

Kuroo added a few more words in his notebook before tossing the pen onto the desk, watching it roll away before it hit the keyboard of his PC. There was a match playing on the screen, one of the international, professional ones, but he hadn't been paying much attention to it. He had been too busy creating short profiles of strengths and weaknesses for their current team. Kuroo wanted to help them improve as a team and as individuals as much as he could. Part of that meant training, which he already had some ideas for. He would turn them over to the coaches the next day. But, another part of that would be bonding as a team. As the captain, that was his task.

He remembered his first and second years on the team. When he was a freshman, he hadn't been a regular. The upperclassmen on the team hadn't been all that much better than him, but they had been older. And, a freshman replacing a third-year in the line-up hadn't sat well with any of them. So, he'd been stuck catching balls and cheering from the stands. A waste, if you asked him. And not just for himself. Yaku had been too good in his first year to sit on the bench. Kai, too. They could completely overwhelm their senpais who played the same positions, if you only looked at their overall performance in practice matches. Nekomata had even suggested a switch in players, if only for one set in official matches, but the captain at that time had had the last word about the line-up. Kuroo knew that he wouldn't make that mistake. He wouldn't alienate the good first-year players just because of his own ego.

With a scoff, Kuroo flipped his notebook closed and let his head fall onto the back of his chair. In his second year, he'd played in matches. Though, he'd still felt like he was on the outside. He had sworn back then, with his fellow second-years that they would run the show in a different way when one of them became a captain. Kuroo had expected Kai to get the position, if he was being honest. The boy was much more mature, after all, and had more leadership skills to offer. All Kuroo had was his skills as a player and his scheming nature. But, now that he had been selected, he would use those to the best of his ability. So, he would organize some kind of an outing in order to get his team to become an actual team. Tomorrow, he would get them to become a unified group, Chiharu included. He needed her to stay as a manager so that he, Kai, and Yaku could stop worrying about performing managerial duties on top of their own. Kuroo groaned. Being captain was more trouble than he'd thought.

* * *

**That's all folks!**

**You guys got to learn a bit more about Haru's family and see her interact with our favorite boys. I'll be looking forward to your feedback, as always :D**

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Omake:

A Goddess had walked in. A frizzy haired, wide-eyed, dark skinned Goddess. Yamamoto stopped paying attention to the ball heading towards him the instant he caught a whiff of her perfume, something with coffee, and his limbs locked in place. The next Mikasa ball, of course, hit him straight in the face and bounced off, causing laughter to spread throughout the team.

"Pretty, isn't she?" Kuroo smirked from beside him, knowing exactly what had happened.

"A-a Goddess," Yamamoto managed. He'd seen her about, in the hallways of the second-year floor, prancing in her short skirt with her friends. He knew her. It was hard to miss the exotic looking girl. Now, it would be even more difficult to ignore her.

"Focus, Yamamoto," Kai deadpanned, making their ace look forward once again. He received the next ball alright, and spiked the second with less trouble. It was pure muscle memory, though. All he could see in his head, for once, wasn't the ball but the girl on the coaches' bench, talking and smiling. Their eyes met for a split second and the next ball hit his chest awkwardly, forcing all the air from his lungs. It had to be true love to feel like that! When the air whooshed out of your lungs because of a girl, it was love, wasn't it?

"Oi, oi, Yamamoto" Kuroo spoke again. "Are you gonna be able to play if we get a manager?"

"With my whole heart!" the ace shot back, grinning wide. And, as Naoi called them over, Kuroo shook his head at their distracted ace.

"Youth." The tall captain shrugged, grinning.

* * *

**Now, I'm really done :D**

**I have a blast outta these Omakes, gotta admit… Especially with Yamamoto xD**

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**I'll be looking forward to your feedback!**


	3. Rumor has it

**Hello all and welcome to another chapter of The Zookeeper :D**

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**My thanks goes out to my amazing beta hestia8639, who is absolutely awesome!**

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**Also, I'd like to give a special thanks to everyone who left kudos and put this story into their bookmarks. Especially, though, I'm grateful to my reviewers!**

**Enjoy!**

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**Chapter 2: Rumor has it**

Chiharu was up far too early for her taste. She wasn't against early mornings, per se. She liked them well enough. There was just something about the smell of a crisp early morning that was lovely. But, definitely not every day. She made room in her life for only so many crisp early mornings a year. So, when her alarm blared at four thirty she just wanted to smash it against the wall and continue sleeping. But, the girl managed to get up at five, after hitting the snooze button a few times. Barely.

She struggled through her morning routine and had to return back to her home twice. Once, because she'd forgotten Akari's and her own gym clothes. The second time, though, she'd remembered that she also needed gym shoes. So, all in all, Chiharu's morning was not a good one. She managed to isolate herself from the stress by plugging in her earphones and playing her favorite mix, a compilation of Cuban songs she'd grown up listening to, as loud as it could go.

When someone tapped her shoulder on the train she simply moved, thinking that they were asking for the exit. Luckily enough, the morning train was almost always half-empty. But, the hand on her shoulder was persistent with another tap. This time, Chiharu didn't move to the side, but took out a single earphone, turning around with the face of a poked dragon.

"What the hell do you- K-Kuroo-senpai!" Her voice broke over his name, mortification taking over.

"See, Kenma, it is Chiharu-chan!" The tall third-year nudged the setter, who was obviously trying to act like he didn't know either of the two loud messy haired idiots. "Oi, Kenma." Kuroo, apparently, wouldn't be deterred that morning.

"She obviously didn't want to be disturbed." Kenma deadpanned up at his friend, yawning into his PSP soon after.

"Were you up late last night?" Kuroo frowned. "You have that face that almost always means that you were up late playing."

"I was."

"W-wait a second!" Chiharu finally found her voice. "Why are you guys on this train?" She stared incredulously at the two.

"We need to get to school, Chiharu-chan." Kuroo gave her a 'duh' face. "We always take this train. Kenma lives just a bit down the street, so I go get him in the mornings. He's such a heavy sleeper. Probably because of all the odd-hours gaming he does."

"I didn't ask for your whole life story," the girl grumbled before he could continue. It seemed like Kuroo was used to holding one-sided conversations. Knowing that he was often with Kenma, though, explained it.

"Feisty this morning, are we?" The captain smirked down at her.

"Irritated," she shot back. Her mind normally would have gone insane over the fact that she'd been so frank with the boy, but this early in the morning, she didn't really have her filter on properly.

"That time of the month?" Kenma choked on air, fumbling with his PSP.

"That time of the morning." Kuroo couldn't hold it in anymore and burst out laughing. Chiharu's eyebrows rose, vanishing into her messy curls. "Does he always laugh like that?" She turned to Kenma for sanity.

"Mm." There was none to be found, as the setter nodded with a straight face.

"Wait, when did you guys become best buds?" Kuroo seemed to recover quickly.

"We were in the same class last year," Kenma piped up. "We talked." Kuroo looked from one to the other.

"Quite a bit, too," Haru added helpfully.

"Why didn't you say anything earlier?" he asked, tone rising with obvious disbelief.

"Nobody asked," the two second-years replied in perfect unison. As the name of their stop was called and the odd trio filed out of the train, Kuroo couldn't help thinking that Kenma and Chiharu had moments when they were a bit too similar for his liking. If they were allowed to spend any more time together, he knew that they would eventually gang up on him, one way or the other.

"So, is it that time of the month?" he cheekily asked from behind the two second-years, receiving a glare from Haru and an incredulous look from Kenma. Yes, they were going to gang up on him one way or another soon enough. The two completely ignored him, instead discussing Kenma's game in hushed tones. Needless to say, Kuroo didn't understand a word they were saying.

* * *

"Yaku, you're with Sakurano today. Show her the ropes." Nekomata gave instructions to the boys after they'd been measured for their jerseys and warmed up properly for the morning. "Shibayama, you're playing libero for the blue team. Red team, you've got Kuroo and the first years." Groans rang out, but no distinct complaints were heard. "Let's have a small match." The group dispersed, the boys heading out to the court. Chiharu was left standing with the short libero who looked like he wanted to be anywhere else except there. In absolute panic, she connected her panicked gaze with the lesser of two evils, the captain. Kuroo, though, offered her nothing except a grin and a 'go ahead' motion with his hands.

"Umm, Yaku-san, right?" Chiharu said when she realized that the short blushing boy wouldn't be the one to break their awkward, tension-filled silence. The third-year jumped at her tone and whirled around.

"Yaku Morisuke, third-year, libero!" he listed off, eyes wide. Then, he seemed to realize what he'd done and shut his mouth tightly, his blush spreading even further across his face.

"Y-Yaku-senpai, then," Chiharu tried again.

"Just Yaku is fine, Sakurano-san." His voice was so low now that she barely caught what he'd said.

"Just Haru is fine then, Yaku-san." Chiharu was honestly hoping that he would gather himself before it became even more awkward. The more tense he became the more tense she felt. All in all, she thought that this little 'getting shown the ropes' thing would go horribly.

"Haru." Yaku nodded a few times, before he took a deep breath and his shoulders finally fell down, relaxing. "Alright." When he looked at her, slightly up due to his short stature, his eyes were focused despite the blush on his cheeks. "Let's get started."

Yaku Morisuke turned out to be quite the helpful mentor and a rather nice boy, once he got over his initial shyness around her. He'd pointedly demanded throughout their teacher-student time that she call him by his first name, as well, as he wanted them to be equals. And Chiharu had given in halfway through, feeling rather comfortable around the libero. He reminded her of Ikki in ways that she just couldn't ignore.

Yaku had taken her phone and entered three new contacts: his, Kuroo's, and Kenma's. If she was having trouble with anything, couldn't make the practice on time or couldn't come at all, she was to contact them in that order. Since Yaku was apparently the most responsible member of the Nekoma team, he was usually in charge of the contact within the group. They also had a chat on Line, which he promised to send her the invite for. Kuroo was the second-best option to contact, if Yaku wasn't replying or picking up. He, though, had a bad habit of reading texts and not replying, just because he forgot, so it was best to call him. As for Kenma, texts were the preferred type of communication, replies guaranteed at lighting speed.

Next, Yaku had given her a tour of the changing rooms for both the boys' and the girls' teams. She would be sharing with the Girls' Volleyball Team, and they already had a free locker for her to use. Other than that, she needed to know about the single light blue metal storage unit in the locker room. It held all the important documents for the team and only the coach had the keys to it. Also, the towels were stored there, on the top shelf. Yaku assured her that she would get her own copy of the key soon enough and asked her not to lend it to any of the team members, no matter the circumstances. Apparently, there had been some kind of an issue during his first year where some of the documents had gotten misplaced. Since then, only the manager and the coaches were allowed to use the storage.

"You probably already have an idea what to do during regular practice, right?" Yaku asked as they walked back towards the gym, carrying towels.

"Yeah." Chiharu nodded. "Water bottles, towels, and notes on plays," she listed them off on her fingers.

"That's pretty much it," the libero confirmed. "If we're having a match, practice or in-team, you will probably be asked to flip the score or serve as the referee or spotter."

"Spotter?" Haru asked.

"You stand near the back line, on the side, and watch for the balls. If the ref can't see whether they're in or out, you will be the one to judge them," Yaku supplied. "During an official match, there are usually four or more spotters. And, if we're playing a really big game, there will also be cameras recording the lines. Then, we can accurately see how the ball hit." He looked over to the second-year, noticing her lost expression. "But, don't worry. Kuroo and Tora are the only ones to really argue balls."

"Argue… balls?"

"Yeah, they appeal to ref's decision, asking for them to rethink it." Yaku nodded. He led her into the gym, where it got much louder, the boys yelling for tosses and cheering when they scored. The two changed their shoes. "For example, the spiker's hand hits the net or he steps on the line when serving." After getting a nod, Yaku continued. "Those are the most common faults and the ref will catch them. If he doesn't, a player can argue for a fault or a double-touch, for example." Yaku stopped listing off when his charge halted. Chiharu had her face scrunched up, thinking. "Haru?"

"Morisuke, I'm going to be honest." She looked Yaku straight in the eyes. "I understood only about half of the things you just listed, and I'm not even certain I've got the right idea there. So, I'll just do my best to learn while watching and come to you with any questions I've got?" At this, Yaku laughed lightly.

"Don't worry." He grinned, motioning with his head for the bench. "Nobody expects you to know everything right away. I'll do my best to support you, of course. If there's anything you're wondering about, you've got me, Kuroo, or really anybody who's free at that moment." He scowled then. "Except Lev. Lev is an idiot." Chiharu chuckled at the expression, nodding.

"I'll be counting on everyone sans Lev, then." The two placed the towels onto the coaches' bench and sat down, side by side, watching the teams. The red team seemed to be struggling. Half of the balls they received went flying, like home runs. Yaku actually had to extend his arm a few times in front of Chiharu to prevent a headshot.

"Also, the coach hates dealing with scheduling." He seemed to recall after Naoi yelled at Lev to keep his hands up properly. Kuroo seemed to have given up on the half-Russian. "He gets plenty of calls about practice matches and away games, so you may end up dealing with his cellphone at some point. I suggest getting a good planner, because it gets pretty hectic halfway into the season."

"I'm pretty good at that kind of stuff." Haru grinned, finally in her element. "Like, answering the phone and scheduling stuff."

"That's great!" Yaku seemed relieved. "Because I've been doing it since the senpais left last year and it's not my best skill. I actually overlapped two practice matches at the end of the year." He laughed awkwardly, scratching his cheek absent-mindedly. "It was pretty lame."

"I'll be happy to save you from the evil phone, Morisuke," she said seriously. The pair stared at each other for a moment before bursting into laughter.

* * *

Kuroo had been distracted. He'd expected Nekomata to give Chiharu a mentor. But, he hadn't thought that that person would be Yaku. After all, he, himself, was the obvious choice. He'd recruited her. She already knew him. They had a connection. Chiharu was already pretty comfortable with him. And, he knew the team the best. So, why Yaku?

His thoughts had lost the red team their first set. Hence, with a groan of frustration, as the libero and their potential manager had been gone for too long, Kuroo forced himself to focus. He could deal with those two later. Now, he needed to get the first years into shape. So, he re-grouped them, gave instructions and they prepared for the next set. They managed to take it somehow, with a two-point difference.

It was during that break that Kuroo noticed that the two people he'd been worrying about were back. Chiharu and Yaku were sitting next to a pile of towels on the coaches' bench, casually talking. The libero seemed to be pointing out play after play, explaining them to the girl, sometimes showing her with his hands, too. She, in turn, nodded, and giggled whenever Yaku had an annoyed face. Kuroo squinted, trying to make out what they were saying. She was full-blown laughing now. She never laughed with him or Kenma like that.

Then, it was lights out.

"Kuroo?"

"Oi, captain?"

"Nice headshot, Kai!" That was Yamamoto. A ball from the other side of the net had been spiked perfectly into Kuroo's cheek, sending him to the ground. He groaned from the floor as the team gathered around him with varying degrees of concern.

"It wasn't meant to be a headshot!" the wing spiker defended. Something cold landed on Kuroo's face while he was trying to blink his vision back into focus. Then, the cold vanished and he realized that it had been a wet towel. Chiharu's worried face came into his field of vision. Her eyes were pretty big, Kuroo realized. Like, the attractive kind of big. And warm. A warm brown color. Like chocolate. He felt like eating some chocolate.

"Kuroo-senpai, can you hear me okay?" Even her voice was trembling. She really  _was_  worried.

"Of course." He smirked up at her.

"How many fingers am I holding up?" Chiharu's hand was above his face.

"Two."

"Alright." She nodded and then helped him sit up slowly. "Do you know where you are?"

"School, morning practice." She was checking his condition, Kuroo realized. "And, it's a Tuesday." His head throbbed, but it wasn't too bad. He'd had worse.

"How was the last point scored?"

"Fukunaga spiked it near the back line." Another nod from the girl.

"Do you feel dizzy? Nauseous?" Her fingers were warm on his cheek as she examined the extent of the external injury.

"Neither." Kuroo leaned back on his hands, causing Chiharu to move forward, following him. She pressed the cold towel back onto his cheek. "So, am I all good, Sakurano-sensei?" The cold towel slipped from his face. Though, Kuroo managed to catch the blank expression on the girl's face before she covered it up with a small frown.

"Looks alright." Chiharu grabbed his hand and made him hold the towel. "Hold that in place so it doesn't swell and wait a bit before playing again. If you're dizzy or nauseous, tell the coach immediately." Her voice was tight, Kuroo noted. There was something wrong. But, the girl got up, brushed off her shorts and smiled at the team. "Seems like it's all good." Cheering erupted through the small group.

"Haru, you know first-aid?" Yaku touched her arm, getting her attention. Chiharu gave a nod. "That's useful! Really useful!" Wait, Haru? Kuroo's brain went into overdrive. So, in the span of two sets she let Yaku call her by some kind of nickname while for two whole days she scowled at him calling her by her first name? What was  _that_?

"Kuroo, can you get up?" Kenma was at his side.

"Yeah, I'm fine." He pushed himself to his feet. "Thanks to Chiharu-chan, I'll be playing again in no time." Her cheeks colored and she gave him a glare, before turning to walk to the coaches. Nekomata was smirking knowingly from the bench. He knew that she knew first-aid, Kuroo sighed in disbelief. That sly old man. He knew. No wonder he had been so happy to hear that Chiharu would be joining them for practice the previous day. Kuroo shook his head to himself, ignoring the slight twinge of pain that came with the movement. Unfortunately, the coach didn't let him play for the rest of the practice and he placed himself in between the captain and the would-be manager skillfully, smiling all the while. Kuroo was just glad to be out of there as soon as the red team lost, despite having Yaku as their libero.

* * *

The rest of Kuroo's day came and went in a similar fashion. His cheek swelled up, despite the cold compress he'd put on it later. And, his morning classes sapped away the last bits of strength he had. He was quite certain that he'd slept through half of them. Which meant that he needed notes.

"Oi, Misaki," Kuroo called out during the short break between his classes. The girl two seats in front of him was ignoring him with passion. Kuroo smirked and pushed himself up, sliding into the seat in front of him. Then, he had the perfect position for irritating the life out of his classmate. "Mi-sa-ki~" Kuroo sang out, tugging the end of her braid with each syllable. "Calling Misaki-sama to answer this commoner's humble summon and grace him with her-"

"Shut up, Kuroo." The third-year whipped around in her seat, tugging her hair out of his hands with a sharp movement of her head. "What do you want?" Kuroo straightened from his half-lying position on the desk and offered a nice, polite smile. Very much different from his usual smirk.

"Misaki, my love," he began. Kuroo and Takahashi Misaki had been in the same class since their first year, rather miraculously. She was a tall girl, one of the few who didn't have to crank their neck to the side in order to talk to him properly. Her eyes were dark blue, hidden behind thick glasses and she always had her hair in a braid. This was the girl who was their class president and a member of the debate club. Which meant that she was the one to deal with all of their class troublemakers, Kuroo included.

"Don't make me smack you," she threatened.

"You'll never get married with that attitude, you know?" Kuroo really couldn't help himself. He loved razzing this girl as much as he could, much to her annoyance. "Maybe someone with a dom fetish, though?"

"Well, you'd know all about that, wouldn't you?" Misaki gave him one of her 'looks' over the top of her glasses. It was a glance that told him he was in trouble for something with her. But, for the love of God, Kuroo didn't know what it was. Surely, he hadn't razzed her since last year.

"Would I?" Kuroo's head went to the side, questioning. Misaki's eyes went wide.

"You haven't heard?" she asked incredulously. Then, she turned even more in her chair, so that she could talk easily. "Some rumors floated up from the second-year floor. And, you know I don't normally gossip, but these were about you, so I stopped to listen." Kuroo motioned for her to continue. "Some second-year girl has been saying how you set a date and a time for you guys to go to a love hotel." At this, Kuroo's eyes went wide.

"Ee- w-wait, what?" He was pretty certain that he was blushing.

"Exactly," Misaki continued. "Knowing how much of a dork you are, I figured it was a false rumor. Though, the girls in 3-2 were pretty certain that the beach bunny girl spreading them was telling the truth."

"Beach bunny girl?" Kuroo asked, frowning.

"Tanned, you know. As in, she spends all her time at the beach picking up guys." As Misaki explained in her matter-of-fact voice a single image popped into Kuroo's head. Rather tan skin, wide chocolate-colored eyes, large lips and wild curly hair that she forced into a bun. It couldn't be Chiharu, could it? "That's all I've got, though." Misaki was expectantly looking at him. "So, what did you do to scorn her?"

"Scorn her?" Kuroo tried to remember. He really did. "Nothing?" He shrugged. "Honestly, if you are talking about the girl I think you're talking about, I doubt that she was spreading a rumor. She doesn't seem capable of it." Misaki scoffed at that.

"You'd be surprised what a cornered girl could do. It's always the quiet ones." Misaki turned to the front, grabbing something off her desk, and then faced Kuroo again. "Get these back to me tomorrow, sleepyhead."

"Yes, commander!" Kuroo mock saluted with a grin, getting up, but his heart wasn't in it.

* * *

Kuroo slipped away from his usual third-year lunch group in favor of seeking out Kenma. As he walked down the second-year corridor, there were giggling, glances, and hushed whispers following him. Normally, he'd be delighted to have that kind of attention. But, this time, with the rumor running wild around the school, he felt like it was the wrong kind of attention. So, with a small grin on his face, Kuroo sought out Kenma.

"Yo, Kenma," the third-year greeted and plopped in front of the setter in a stranger's chair. The whispers and giggles in the classroom slowly died out as the novelty of Kuroo's presence wore off.

"Kuroo." Kenma had a small frown on his face. "You heard?"

"Yeah, sounds troublesome," Kuroo agreed. "You know anything?"

"Some girls were talking about you and Chiharu yesterday." The setter gave a small shrug. "I guess it spun out of control." Kuroo let out a long sigh, his head falling to the desk, right into his arms. He stretched, so that his hands were all the way on Kenma's side and he received a 'look' from his friend. Kenma wouldn't be cutting him any slack, despite his wounded status on the rumor mill.

"How bad was it?" he asked quietly.

"The usual rumors about relationships," Kenma replied with a small shake of his head. "Just leave them alone and they should go away." Giggling from the other side of the classroom caught Kuroo's attention and he looked over. A group of four girls squealed as quietly as possible, blushing, and then they put their heads as close as possible and started whispering.

"Leave them alone, huh?" Kuroo asked Kenma, pointing at the giggling squad.

* * *

Kuroo was going to leave it alone. He honestly was. Because, when it came to social matters he trusted his best friend's judgment over his own. Kenma, as awkward as he was in conversations,  _knew_ people. He knew how to deal with them and he knew how to react the best possible way for the outcome he wanted. So, Kuroo trusted Kenma's advice first and his own instincts right after it. But, he just  _couldn't_  stay silent after hearing something like that.

"Six hours?" The girl standing in a group of five next to the window giggled. "That's one serious claim to live up to."

"I heard that she had been in the motel a number of times, too," another piped up. "Something about silk sheets. That's some serious comfort there." They all giggled.

"Hello." Kuroo found his own mouth opening before he could stop it. And, by the look on their faces, they hadn't seen him passing by. And, those wide eyes and open mouths told him that they knew exactly who he was. And, Kuroo, for once, wasn't happy about being recognized. "I hope that you know those rumors are bogus, don't you?" He grinned lazily down at the girls.

"Y-yes, of course, Kuroo-senpai," one of them managed to squeak out.

"If I wanted to do it with someone, it definitely wouldn't be in a motel, regardless of the sheets." He really,  _really_  should've stayed silent, like Kenma had told him.

**That's all folks!**

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**I hope that you guys enjoyed the new chapter and that you'll be patient with me as I write like a wounded slug xD I've been obsessing over my True Blood work recently hahahaha**

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**Here's a question for you guys, would you like Haru to be the manager of the club or not? :D  
**

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Omake:

Yaku Morisuke usually didn't pay attention to rumors. They were nasty, tended to spin out of control, and were often quite false. But, when the girls from his class flocked around him, a rare sight, bombarding the short libero with questions about his captain, there was really no way to  _not_  pay attention. They were asking all kinds of things, albeit a little shyly in the beginning, but once they gained momentum, they grew more confident.

It had started when one of the girls asked if Kuroo was his captain. Then, when he confirmed, two more joined the slowly gathering crowd. And, when another question was answered about Kuroo not being in a relationship to the best of his knowledge, more of them came over. At that point, Yaku was blushing from all the female attention, which wasn't a normal thing in his usual school day. But, it was the fifth or sixth question, he'd lost track by then, that got him to completely lose it.

"So, it's true that he can go for six or seven hours?" one of the giggling girls asked. Yaku's eyes went wide, blush spreading across his ears. "That's what the beach bunny said, after all. They do it all the time, apparently."

"Beach bunny?" he asked slowly.

"That Sakurano girl, from second-year. The tanned one with a crazy bedhead." Now, Yaku choked on air.

"Haru?" He asked incredulously. Then, he felt his stomach ache and his head hurt slightly. He burst out laughing, the guffawing turning into a cough when he swallowed the wrong way around. "Oh, God," he managed, before bursting into another set of cackles. "Haru and Kuroo?" And he fell onto his desk, almost crying from laughter. The girls, not interested anymore, shrugged to each other, sharing questioning looks and dispersed from around the short libero who just couldn't gather himself.

* * *

**Now, I'm actually done. Looking forward to your feedback :D**


	4. Plotting and scheming

**Ahem. After my 'short' sabbatical from the fandom and this fic, I'm re-watching Haikyuu and writing again. Hence, here's something I think all those who're still with me will enjoy :D**

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**My thanks goes out to the wonderful hestia8639 for betaing, all my reviewers who give me food to write :P and especially The Spade Queen from FFN for reminding me that you guys want an update :D**

**Enjoy!**

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**Chapter 4: Plotting and scheming**

Kudō Akari was not a violent person by nature. She had grown up with three older brothers, her mother often sick, which led to the two of them being pampered like princesses. So, Akari's childhood was full of frilly dresses, play dates, fluffy animals, and messy braids. She was known in kindergarten as the girl with her own personal bodyguard squad, her three brothers easily looming over the kids in her age group. During primary school, she'd been the princess who always had a cute older brother to pick her up and walk her home. And, in middle school, she'd been the girl with whom every other member of the female population wanted to hang out, simply to get close to her brothers.

So, in high school, when Akari had met Chiharu, she'd been cautious. The girl sitting behind her was an exotic-looking cutie, after all. And Akari had learned from previous experiences that being cute often meant that you were on a hunt. A hunt for a boyfriend. So, she knew only to say good morning and casually chat about class activities. It wasn't until the second month of their first year that Akari really learned what kind of person Chiharu was.

Akari had been coming back to the classroom from lunch break, only to hear that vile creature, Megumi, and her band of gigglers asking Chiharu all sorts of questions about Akari's brothers and how they could get an invitation to her home. Akari had stopped, her hands clenching at her sides, and waited shamelessly to hear Chiharu's response. It had been one that she definitely hadn't expected. A loud smack had rung out, followed by shouting and crying. And, that was the story of how Chiharu had slapped Nishimura Megumi for badmouthing her friend, only to get ganged up on by the giggler squad and end up in the infirmary herself. Since then, Akari had stuck close to Chiharu's side, learning that the curly bedhead had almost zero interest in boys, aside from being friends with them. So, Akari had promised herself that day to do the same for Chiharu. Maybe she wouldn't be able to land a slap, terrified of the pain, but she would definitely deliver a good tongue-lashing to anyone who dared to hurt her friend.

Apparently, the day when she could make good on her promise had arrived sooner, rather than later. So, when the school day ended and Chiharu headed home with a glum expression, Akari didn't go to her club room. No, she stomped out of her classroom and straight for the third gym, the one that was commonly used by the Boys' Volleyball Club. And, the sight of an angry Kudō Akari had her fellow second-years parting like the Red Sea before Moses.

"Kuroo Tetsurō!" the girl called out from the entrance when she arrived at the gym, hands clenched at her sides. The boys were inside already, doing stretches. Their heads turned towards Akari at the shout. Then, the majority of them glanced at their captain, who looked like a deer caught in headlights. "Come with me!" Her tone made it clear that it was more of a command than a request.

"Is that… some kind of a battle challenge?" Yaku asked, head tilted to the side as their captain slowly approached the glaring girl. It was a funny picture, really. Kuroo towered over the girl with ease, but she looked like some sort of a ferocious jungle cat, ready to tear out his jugular at the smallest error.

"A confession?" Kai supplied. "Maybe?" he trailed off.

"A Goddess!" Yamamoto added, melting into a puddle while their captain switched shoes and followed the girl out. The boys were left to stare after the pair, before scrambling to change their own shoes and follow the odd duo in stealth mode.

Akari walked behind the gym, knowing that Kuroo would follow her. Then, when she deemed it far enough from prying ears, she stopped and whirled around, making him freeze as well.

"Oi, what's this abou-"

"You-you-you insufferable- no, conceited- urgh! Just horrible, selfish, evil-" Akari's tongue-lashing hadn't gone as well as she'd hoped, as her anger stopped her brain from being able to pile on insults.

"Hold on! Hold on!" Kuroo raised his hands in a gesture of peace. "What did I do?" Akari's eyes widened and she gaped at his lost expression. She shook her head and then moved towards him, raising a fist.

"She is a good girl." She stabbed at his chest with her index finger hard enough he nearly lost his balance. "She may be tan and look wild, but she is a  _good girl_." The last two words were accompanied by two more jabs into his hard chest. He took a step back as the petite girl didn't show any intentions of stopping her advances. "She is shy! And she does her best!" She emphasized each sentence with a jab. "And you did-did-  _that!_ " Akari finally slapped the same sore spot on his chest with her open palm. "You insufferable piece of-" Kuroo caught her wrist before she could deliver another slap to his sore chest.

"Oi, I have no idea what you're rambling on about!" he finally yelled, stopping the girl from her thrashing around in order to free her weapon. Akari froze, grit her teeth, and brought her other hand up, aiming for his face now. But, Kuroo was too fast. He avoided the initial slap and caught her wrist when she went for another one. "Stop trying to hit me and explain, damn it!" Akari panted, out of breath from her attempts to wound the annoying senior in any way she could.

"Chiharu would never sleep with your sorry ass!" And then she managed to deliver the final blow to the shell-shocked third-year, slamming a strong kick onto his shin with the front of her shoe, causing him to yelp and sink down to grasp it. "Stop spreading nasty rumors!" And with a final slam of her school bag over Kuroo's head, Akari headed away from the battlefield. When she rounded the corner, she saw the shocked volleyball team, staring and gaping. She hissed at them, making the boys push each other to move back and towards the wall, before stomping away, her anger only slightly abated.

* * *

Chiharu headed home after sending a text to Yaku that she couldn't make the afternoon practice due to a headache. The third-year had replied almost instantly, telling her not to worry and to take care of herself. She felt a bit guilty, lying to him, but her head had been pounding during her afternoon classes a bit. Not a headache, though. She knew those. But, she knew this, as well. Her forehead was hurting, in a rhythmic beat which told her that she was anxious. Unbelievably so. She'd been minding her own business in the corridor during break time, when she'd overheard a group of second-years talking. They mentioned her name and Kuroo-senpai's, which made Chiharu halt and try to listen as inconspicuously as possible. Now, she wished that she hadn't. She should've just minded her own business and been on her way. But, for him to do something like that... He must hate her for some reason.

Chiharu had racked her brain during the last few classes of the day, trying to figure out the reason. But, she was drawing a blank. She hadn't done anything bad to Kuroo-senpai. She'd profusely apologized for her initial mistake and rejection of his non-confession. She'd also gotten both him and Yamamoto a sports drink and a health bar as thanks for their help the day before. Kuroo-senpai had thanked her with a smirk while the volleyball team's ace had done some form of a noodle dance with outlandish sounds coming from his mouth. Kuroo-senpai had apologized for the 'idiot'. All in all, Chiharu was certain that she hadn't done anything for her senpai to retaliate in such a fashion. Saying that she had asked him to go to a love hotel with him... That was too much to ignore, even for Chiharu.

So, she'd gone to the expert who was always in tune with the second-year rumor mill: Akari. At the end of classes, she had gotten three different versions of the rumor out of her reluctant friend. One was the same as she'd overheard. Kuroo-senpai had told someone how Chiharu had insisted that she'd only be their manager if he went with her to a love hotel. Regularly. The second one re-told the story of Kuroo-senpai having a schedule on his phone, which he shared with all the girls he wanted to do it with, so that they could book a time and date at their convenience. Apparently, Chiharu had had the privilege to book herself a date like that. And the last, and definitely the worst rumor, had had Akari hesitating whether to even tell her. But, after Chiharu had given her one of her looks, which told the other girl that she could take it, whatever it was, Akari had given in. The last rumor that Kuroo-senpai was spreading told a completely fabricated story of some kind of a friends with benefits arrangement, which had apparently started during the short break between Chiharu's first and second year. And, now, they were simply making it more convenient with a schedule and love hotels. Akari had told her that there had even been talk of explicit details of a completely fictional blowjob behind the third gym.

Chiharu had hit her limit. She had tolerance, yes. She knew that some of the rumors at school spun out of control, yes. She knew that she was a favorite topic, her naturally tan skin making her the ideal 'beach bunny girl'. But, she hadn't thought that by simply joining a club she'd provoke someone into completely ruining her like that. What had she  _done_  to Kuroo-senpai in order for him to say all those things? She'd just wanted to have some extracurricular activities. To please her mother. To have some fun. To make some more friends. But this… Chiharu couldn't do this. She had her pride, after all.

An empty house welcomed her home and Haru, for once, didn't call out a greeting. She didn't feel like doing it. She didn't feel like doing anything. The front of her head throbbed horribly and she felt guilty for lying to Yaku. But, she didn't know if she could trust him. He'd known Kuroo-senpai far longer than he'd known her. If it came to choosing sides, the third-years would undoubtedly stick together. So, Chiharu numbly changed into comfortable PJs, prepared a small meal for herself and turned on the TV in the living room, watching it but not really seeing anything. She needed to give a good reason why she couldn't be the manager for the club, directly to coach Nekomata at the teachers' lounge. And then, she would have to avoid the boys from the volleyball club like the plague. It seemed like an easy enough idea. It would be simple to go back to her usual routine and forget that the Boys' Volleyball Club even existed.

Chiharu stood, returning her dishes to the kitchen and placing them in the sink. Then, she turned to the emergency drawer she shared with her mother, their little secret. From there, among the numerous colorful bags of junk food, Haru grabbed the biggest bag of potato chips she could find and returned to the living room, switching to an international English channel and finding a crime show to watch. Before long, the combination of the chips, the foreign language, and the mysterious murder case in front of her, Chiharu began to drown her numbness.

* * *

When Naoi walked into the gym, expecting the boys to be finished with their stretches and running, he instantly blew a fuse. The volleyball club was sitting in a circle, first-years included for once, heads huddled together as they whisper-argued about something. Naoi waited. He knew that boys will be boys, but this was more of a council of gossiping elders. Or something. So, he gave them a few more seconds. The situation didn't change.

"Laps!" Naoi yelled out, scaring the majority of them and making them scream, jump, or back away in a hurry. Soon enough, the boys were on their feet, properly greeting the coach before running out to do their laps. Naoi sighed, heading for the coaches' bench. They had become even more troublesome this year, if that was possible. But, unlike last year, it seemed like they were more of a team. More of a group. Kuroo had been a good choice of captain, Naoi decided, as he scanned his notes.

What Naoi didn't know, though, was that the boys simply rounded the first corner of the lap before jogging down one of the grassy hills and dropping down in the same circle as before, huddling together. They were trying to get to the bottom of an important matter, after all.

The council of gossiping elders, better known as the Boys' Volleyball Gossip Club, began with their captain presenting the problem. It hadn't gone too smoothly, as it seemed like every member had a little bit of another nasty rumor to add. The first-years were the only ones who looked a tad lost, but they quickly caught onto the topic. So, once the council was in session at their new location, Kuroo presented the solutions like the leader he was.

"So. As far as I see, we have a few options. Let's narrow them down quickly." He scratched the back of his head, ruffling the bottom part of his bedhead a bit. "All in favor of Chiharu being our manager..." Thirteen hands rose, his included, unanimously. "Alright. Then it's time to fix this. I'm going to-"

"Not interfere," Kenma deadpanned, cutting the captain off. "All in favor." Twelve hands rose, Kenma's included.

"O-oi!" Kuroo balked. "What do you mean I'm not going to interfere?" He scrunched up his eyebrows.

"Kuroo, you've already made it worse, apparently," Kai spoke up before their captain could lose his wits. "Let us figure it out, alright?" Kuroo grumbled. "Lay out the plan, without you commandeering it."

"Alright, alright. I can tell when I'm outvoted." Kuroo sighed. "We need to do three things in order to fix this. One, find out who is spreading these rumors."

"Fukunaga, that's you." Kai instantly assigned the task. "You're a second-year and can get close to anyone without too much trouble. Keep your eyes and ears open for the source. Also, try not to be noticed as you're doing so." Fukunaga gave a nod. The second-year, while usually quiet, was actually pretty sociable. Contrary to appearances, he didn't have any trouble navigating through different classes or talking to people he didn't know.

"First years." Kuroo picked up where his vice-captain left off. "You're on secondary option duty. Find a person who hasn't joined a club yet and might be interested in being our manager if Chiharu decides against it, despite the rumors being stopped." There were nods among the new members of the club.

"Yaku and I will try to find the source of the third-year rumors, as they appear to be different from the ones among second-years," Kai supplied helpfully. Kuroo gave him a nod, smirking wider.

"Finally, Kenma, you're on Chiharu duty," the captain assigned. "Since you two are so chummy, it shouldn't be too much trouble finding out where her head's at." Kenma gave a mute nod. "Alright, laps!" And with a clap, everyone rose, going uphill in order to run before practice. Kuroo, however, wasn't done. He grabbed Yamamoto's elbow, holding him back. "Tora, can I ask you to spread some counter rumors?"

"What did you have in mind?" Yamamoto asked, and the two huddled together.

* * *

"I understand the situation." Nekomata-sensei nodded, leaning back in his chair. There was no smile on his face, which Chiharu had begun to associate with the man. "I'm sorry to see you go. The boys warmed up to you rather quickly and you seemed very qualified for the position." Now, he did give her a small, knowing smile.

"I'm very sorry, yet again, sensei. The workload is just too much," Chiharu explained, bowing. She gave Nekomata another small nod and left the teachers' lounge.

"Sakurano isn't staying with your club, Nekomata-sensei?" asked Hara Rie, the young Japanese History teacher. She was a short woman with a dark bob cut and kind eyes. All of her students loved her and usually addressed her by her first name, rather informally.

"Unfortunately, no." Nekomata turned in his chair. "She says that the workload is too big for her, considering her part-time job and studies. She's worried that she won't be able to manage." Rie shook her head, leaning on the desk next to Nekomata's.

"I'm worried about that girl a bit. I heard that she doesn't have many friends and isolates herself from her classmates." The young woman sighed. "I'd hoped she'd join a good club and find her place among her peers that way." The teacher hesitated for a moment. "I may be a teacher, but I've heard some nasty rumors circling about…"

"I didn't want to interfere, Hara-san." Nekomata sighed. "Those boys can usually take care of their own very well… Too bad, I would've loved seeing Sakurano blossom with us." Rie nodded, solemnly.

* * *

Chiharu's day passed in muted whispers and tiny glances which seemed to burn into her back. Now that she knew about the content of those quiet words, she knew why those looks were just like that. She would've glanced at the person she'd heard those things about, as well. So, Chiharu held her head high and stuck close to Akari, almost like a shield. Since her friend had told her about the contents of the rumors, the girl had become even chattier than usual, if possible. She talked about her brothers, school, and her club at an almost impossible pace.

Haru was thankful, though. Ikki had done his best, as well, obviously having been updated on the details by Akari. He'd insisted that the two girls hang around his practice after school and had even taken them out for a meal afterwards. Chiharu had noticed the curious and leering glances coming from Ikki's teammates, easily recognizing the tall trio of basketball players who had cornered her at the sink. But, they hadn't come close to her. They'd simply looked. Yet, Chiharu still felt like she needed a shower. A long one.

"Hey, do you think you might join my club?" Akari asked as they walked out of the small ramen place just a few streets from their school. Ikki was the last one out, waving goodbye to the cashier who already knew them by name.

"I'm not sure… I still have- Oh, Kami! Work!" Chiharu's eyes widened and she fished out her cellphone to call her colleague in complete panic. "I need to run! Thanks for the food!" The two second-years barely heard her words as the young girl rounded a corner, rushing to the train stop.

"She's… too late to go now, no?" Ikki asked, shock on his face.

"It's Chiharu. She'll probably go and offer to clean up or something." Akari laughed and led them in the opposite direction. "What do you think about these rumors, Itsuki?" The short girl looked up at him, worried.

"As nasty as they come." Ikki sighed. "I talked to Sato, though. You know, the senpai who gives me his notes every year?" Akari nodded. Ikki had an upperclassman in the club who'd been helping him out with notes, tips on teachers, and the best ways to pass classes since their first year. "He says that the rumors among the third-years were supposedly started by Chiharu."

"W-what?" Akari balked.

"And," Ikki put up a finger, silencing her, "they all depict Kuroo-senpai as the used party."

"Then…" Akari stammered.

"It's not Kuroo-senpai who's spreading them," Ikki concluded with a smile, just as Akari yelled out in shock.

"I beat up Kuroo-senpai for no reason!"

"Y-you  _beat up_  Kuroo-senpai?"

* * *

Fukunaga had always been good at getting along with people. He was quiet, listened well, and offered honest advice when asked. This was the quality that made him fairly popular among the girls in his year. While he'd only had a single girlfriend in his teenage life, that didn't seem to matter to the female population. His personality had made him a favored guide to a young maiden's love life. Fukunaga supposed that Kenma would've been in a similar situation, if only the young setter would take his eyes away from his games more often.

So, getting intel about different rumors had been a simple task for him. He'd merely talked to one person about Sakurano and Kuroo, and there was already a group of them willing to share their collective knowledge by his desk the following morning. When Fukunaga had heard the full extent of the rumors, he found himself more than a little disgusted at their nature. But, he would bear through that if it meant getting to the bottom of all this. And, he really couldn't imagine the shy girl from the gym, who'd stared at Kuroo during her introduction in hopes of being saved, doing anything as promiscuous as what the whispers depicted.

"Who'd you hear that from?" Fukunaga asked a short girl from another class, who had been his seatmate the previous year.

"Eh? Who?" She seemed to think for a moment. "I think it was a girl from class one? No, class two! I don't remember her name, though…" The girl apologized.

"It's fine, thanks." Fukunaga gave a small bow, before heading out on his way. He wanted to find the source by the end of this school day. He found Kenma sitting at his desk inside the classroom, giving him a nod before continuing onto the investigation of the female population. Fukunaga started with a brunette that he knew from his first year, who pointed him to another girl. And, from one until the next, he finally got three of them to confirm a single name: Nishimura Megumi. So, Fukunaga wrote down the girl's information and slid it onto Kenma's desk, leaving the rest to the boy. His work there was done.

Kenma, on the other hand, had another task assigned to him by Kuroo during morning practice. He was to keep the source of the rumors in his sights at all times and confirm the rumor origin. So, during breaks, contrary to his usual gaming schedule, the setter followed the blonde girl in question around, as inconspicuously as he could. He saw her talking to a girl from class one and yet another from class five, saying how she had heard rather interesting things from Chiharu. Kenma was certain that he couldn't keep his expression from becoming sour at the blatant lies and half-truths. It appeared that Nishimura Megumi had taken an innocent rumor of Kuroo and Chiharu discussing volleyball and spun it to her own liking. Kenma was even lucky enough to spot the pretty girl having lunch with an upperclassman, a young woman with glasses and her hair in a tight ponytail. Shamelessly, he snapped a picture of the scene and sent it to the team Line chat.

From there on, the boys had all commented there, deciding the best course of action to take. Unfortunately for their council of elders, though, Kuroo could be rather reckless when cornered. And, the scheming captain hated one thing more than losing in volleyball – being outmaneuvered in scheming. Naturally, the third-year hadn't shown up for their practice on time, not surprising his fellow volleyball players one bit. In fact, any of them were willing to bet a large sum of money that their captain was stalking the person they had been trying to get to become their manager. And, they had tasked Kenma with a 'capture and return' mission, much to his irritation.

* * *

**That's all for now folks!**

**My thanks goes out to all of you who've left kudos, read, bookmarked and I hope enjoyed the show :D**

* * *

Omake:

An innocent, unassuming first-year girl was walking down the corridor. She felt great that day. Her high school years of romance and preparation for college had just started. She had managed to get in the same class as her best friend from middle school. Not to mention that her uniform fit perfectly and looked amazing on her. There was just one more thing to do in order to make her first year an amazing one…

"Anoo…" The girl froze in her tracks, turning around at the hand on her shoulder. "Sakamoto-chan, have you joined a club yet? Your friend told me that you were looking…" Sakamoto turned completely and found herself looking up, up, up, and… up.

"Eek!" the girl shrieked at the tall, no, humongous giant of a boy who was towering over her like some kind of a bent Mt. Fuji. He even had light colored hair, perfectly combed around his head. "Yes! No!" Sakamoto squeaked out.

"Umm, which is it?" the boy asked, head tilting to the side. "You see, I'm with the Boys' Volleyball Club and we're looking for a manager. So, if you haven't-" At some point Lev's eyes wandered away from the girl, looking after another first year he was planning on asking later.

"She's gone, Lev," Shibayama interrupted with pure pity on his face.

"Eh?!" Lev jumped and turned around, looking for Sakamoto. "When? Why? Why do they run, Shibayama-san?!" The libero just gave him a smile and encouraged him to look for another girl who hadn't joined a club.

_Because you're scary as hell_ , Shibayama thought to himself.

* * *

**Now, I'm done ;) I'll eagerly wait for feedback as I type the next chapter :D**


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